Athletic Fund

Just got announcement on the Athletic Fund. I hope this was done with the support of the Bronco Bench and not to circumvent it. I would have thought the Bench would be the vehicle for funding all SCU sports. The concept of directing gifts to specific sports can be done through the bench. I hope this was not an end run around the historical fundraising source for Bronco athletics. Coaches and AD’s come and go, but the bench has been around for as long as I remember. We have supported the bench for over 40 years and it has been supporting SCU in good times and bad.

My recollection is that, since its origin, the Bench has been its own 501c(3). It had an initial explicit charter to raise $ for building Buck Shaw stadium, and when that was complete, to raise $ for scholarships. Every year, the Bench raises money and essentially writes a check to the University.

So, assuming this structure is still the same (my knowledge could be very dated), what we are seeing with the Athletic Fund isn’t really an end-around. It is a formalization of fundraising for non-scholarship needs (facilities, salaries, bat, balls, nets, operating budgets, etc). In the past, that fundraising was a bit quiet, one-to-one, and each sport did its own thing. Now, it is out in the open and, for folks for whom scholarships are aren’t their thing (or would like to donate to both), they have a defined channel.

Will this impact the Bench?

Probably to a degree, but likely only at the big gift level. And the impact will be determined by the coordination between the BBF and Athletic department on solicitations.

My recollection is that scholarships are funded primarily by large donors. Sure, many “small” (<$1K) donations can and have accumulated to a schollie. But the cost of a schollie is so high now that energies and resources are possibly better spent on the targeted soliciting of large annual donors and endowments, instead of of crowd-funding from us little people.

Note that not all scholarships are actual full scholarships and neither does the Bench fund all scholarships. The University funds the balance of whatever scholarships end up being granted out of the NCAA allowed max http://www.scholarshipstats.com/ncaalimits.html .